IPL 2022, RCB vs KKR: 3 player battles to watch out for

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have gotten off to contrasting starts in IPL 2022. Kolkata notched up a six-wicket win against the defending champions Chennai Super Kings (CSK) after a bit of a stutter. Meanwhile, Bangalore, despite a stellar outing with the bat, were beaten by the Punjab Kings (PBKS) by five wickets.

With new captains at the helm, both these sides will look to get some momentum going when they face off at the DY Patil Sports Academy in Mumbai on Wednesday (March 30), according to the IPL 2022 schedule.

Although RCB come off as a rather strong side on paper, the Knights have looked fluent and that makes for interesting player battles. Ahead of the mid-week encounter in IPL 2022, we look at the player battles to watch out for.

To see list of IPL winner, click here.

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#1 RCB's in-form Faf du Plessis vs Umesh Yadav

Umesh Yadav ended up with figures of 4-0-20-2 against CSK in KKR's IPL 2022 opener. His spell was as incredible as it could get. Yadav's line and length were bang-on and that saw Chennai's batters struggle to put him away.

Faf du Plessis, meanwhile, gave a valuable lesson in RCB's last match on how a batter with intent could accelerate despite a slow start. His 57-ball-88 against Punjab showed that he's carried his good form from last season. It will thus be a cracking contest between pace and panache when Du Plessis and Yadav face off.

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#2 Venkatesh Iyer vs Mohammed Siraj

Neither Venkatesh Iyer nor Mohammed Siraj had the greatest of starts in IPL 2022. The opening batter, a revelation for KKR in the UAE last season, mustered only 16 runs in the first match against the Super Kings.

Siraj, despite bagging two wickets, gave away 59 runs in his four overs and was on the receiving end of Odean Smith's bruising innings. Both these players, who have garnered national attention in recent times, will be keen to make amends in the upcoming contest.

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#3 Varun Chakravarthy vs Dinesh Karthik

A man who knows what Varun Chakravarthy has up his sleeve, Dinesh Karthik, now with RCB, will look to negate the threat the spinner brings to the table. Chakravarthy's ability to fox the batters and rush through his overs economically will be a tough challenge for Karthik.

Both these Tamil Nadu players come into this game on the back of good performances. Karthik belted an unbeaten 32 off 14 balls in RCB's last match, while Chakravarthy gave away just 23 runs from his four overs and picked up a wicket against CSK.

Can the experienced Karthik get the better of the spin wizard?